This invention relates to an apparatus, method, and system for sizing markets for products or services. It applies engineering rigor to market analysis in order to satisfy a need to produce consistent, reliable, refinable localized market data. The system allocates, tracks, and forecasts market data by product, geographic area, market segment, provider, and time period, in a way consistent with accepted regional market sizes (generally national, international, or worldwide). The system provides a means of quickly and consistently allocating regional markets to subregions and computing total industry size in terms of revenues.
The system is particularly useful for (but not limited to) large worldwide industries, and especially industries experiencing deregulation, such as the telecommunications and energy industries. In this environment, infrastructure, product development, and marketing costs are so high that local market data is critical to making such investments. The system facilitates sound decisions and strategies by providing localized data. Thinking globally and acting locally requires local market intelligence.
The system has many objects and advantages. It provides a tool for individuals analyzing rapidly changing industries and product mixes. It provides a repository (database) for important industry information and enables near real-time adjustments based on current market conditions. It provides a framework for tracking dynamic markets and a means to allocate those markets in useful and novel ways. It preserves the integrity of accepted regional market sizes while providing previously unavailable subregional market sizes. It allows any number of market factors to be used in the allocation of product markets. It provides for qualitative and quantitative inputs from industry analysts or other experts knowledgeable in the particular market dynamics of the industry and the product being processed. It allows the computed data to be refined with external data in a manner that improves accuracy while maintaining data consistency. It also provides flexibility in data output methods.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.